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CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter deals with the description and account of the steps of what have been conducted in the study. The description
involves 1 research design, 2 research site, 3 research questions, 4 data collection techniques, 5 participants in the study, 6 data
analysis, and 7 validity.
3.1 Research Design
One of the aims of teaching English is to make students autonomous. Being autonomous learners, they have their own
characteristics, they are influenced by some factors, and they seem to make some efforts to improve their English.
This study was aimed to identify the students as autonomous learners, then to determine the outstanding characteristics of
autonomous learners. It was purposed also to investigate the factors influencing autonomous learners and the efforts made by autonomous
learners to improve their English. What mentioned above relates to their learning process as
Benson 2001 says that research to autonomous learners refers to the learner’s broad approach to learning process, rather than to a
particular mode of teaching or learning. He also adds that autonomy is
28 not a method of learning, but an attribute of learner’s approach to the
learning process. This study investigates the autonomous learners. It uses a
qualitative method, which is appropriate in understanding process by which events and actions take place Maxwell, 1996:19.
In addition, this is a case study as it is an examination of a specific phenomenon such as a process. Merriam 1988:16 says that
a qualitative case study is an intensive, holistic description and analysis of a single instance, phenomenon, or social unit. Specifically,
she conceptualizes the case study as a process which tries to describe and analyze some entities in qualitative, complex and
comprehensive terms not infrequently as it unfolds over a period of time.
There were two steps in conducting this study. The first step was intended to identify students as autonomous learners by doing
observation, distributing questionnaire, analyzing document, and conducting interviews. The observation was conducted to investigate
students who were identified as good achievers. They would be selected as autonomous learners or not, as what L. Dam and
Lagenhausen 1996 found in their research that autonomous learners will be more effective and learn better than non-autonomous learners.
The data of achieved students were also gained from the interview with their teachers. There were 50 students who were selected as
29 good achievers. Then, they were asked to fill in the questionnaire
consisted the items of autonomous learner characteristics based on Boud’s theory. The answers of questionnaire were read and analyzed
to identify the students as autonomous learners or not. The second step was determined to investigate the outstanding
characteristics of autonomous learners by using questionnaire and interview. The interview was also conducted to investigate the factors
influencing autonomous learners and their efforts made by the autonomous learners to improve their English.
To get the accurate result of this study, a research design, which is called ‘interactive model’, offered by Maxwell, was adapted.
The model consists of five components; those are purposes, conceptual context, research questions, methodology and validity.
These components influence one to another, as shown in Figure 3.1
30 Method:
-Observation -Questionnaire
-Interview Document analysis
Figure 3.1: A Research Design Model of Autonomous Learners adapted from Maxwell, Joseph A., 1996.
3.2 Research Site
